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Edison Preparatory School sophomore overcomes obstacles to become drum major

Ashley Ledezma has done something unique. She became drum major of the Edison Preparatory School band, before her sophomore year ever started. 

No matter the weather, the Screamin’ Eagles at Edison High School are committed. They’re getting ready for marching band season this fall.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said sophomore Ashley Ledezma. “Meet new people every year.”

Ashley Ledezma has done something unique. She became drum major of the Edison Preparatory School band, before her sophomore year ever started. 

“I said I’m going to do this and this is going to happen,” said Ledezma “And then it happened.” 

Ashley has always loved music. When time came to sign up for band, she made sure her name was on the roster.

“To learn something new, I never played it before so I just decided to be in band for fun,” said Ledezma. 

She’s been playing the flute, joined the jazz band, and even shares her talent at church.

“I love music, I don’t think I will stop playing,” said Ledezma.

But Ashley’s life came to a sudden halt when she was just five, “when I was five I got pneumonia really bad,” said Ledezma. 

She was already dealing with degenerative vision issues, a problem that her doctors can’t determine exactly when it began – except to tie it to a fever she got when she was just two weeks old – but now she was being hospitalized again, this time for hearing issues. 

“So, I stay in the hospital for two months,” said Ledezma. “And then for about four months I stayed home.” 

She was well into recovery when a simple morning turned into nightmare. 

“I woke up,” said Ledezma. “My mom, she had been calling me ‘it’s time for breakfast.’ And I was walking around the hallway, and the kitchen, and my mom come to me and she said ‘Ashley!’ And I turn to her, and I looked at her, and I was like ‘what happened?’ And I said ‘can you talk to me, again?’ And she said ‘Ashley.’ And I’m like ‘I can’t hear nothing.’”

Her world suddenly never the same again. “I was scared, yeah,” said Ledezma. “I lost my hearing.” 

Faced with tragedy, Ashley turned to music. “I feel happy, graceful,” said Ledezma.  

It’s through music at Edison that she’s found her confidence. 

“Become like a normal person,” said Ledezma. “Like, I don’t really focus if I have a hearing loss or vision, it’s just me.”

Not willing to be defined by her disabilities, the safe plan of having her play from the sideline during marching performances wasn’t for her.

“I didn’t want to stand there and do nothing,” said Ledezma. “And then other people look at me and notice that I have hearing loss and vision.”

Instead, Ashley wanted in on the action. 

“I want to be like the same, like other students,” said Ledezma. “I want to do, like, the same, equal.”

Like Beethoven, who cut the legs off a piano so he could feel the notes he played, Ashley plays by feeling the music.

“I feel the vibration, from the music,” said Ledezma. “But it depends on the sounds, if it’s high or low. If I take my hearing aids off or my C-I, cochlear implants, I will not be able to hear high pitch. So, I will hear low pitch because the low pitch is vibrating [more], so you can feel it and I can hear a little bit, not much.”

Still, feeling the music wasn’t enough. Ashley set out on being drum major of the Screamin’ Eagle Marching Band.

“Basically, me standing out there and conduct for the band,” said Ledezma.

During her auditions Ashley drew on her life experience, telling the judges nothing could hold her back.

“it’s because it’s true,” said Ledezma.  

She’s now an inspiration to all. Leader of the Screamin’ Eagles, proving that neither age nor disability can stop her.

“No matter who you are, no matter what kind of disability,” said Ledezma. “If they want to do something, do it. Don’t say ‘I can’t do it just because I’m deaf, or just because I’m in a wheel chair.’ Don’t, don’t say that. Just keep going.”